Mechanical signal device



March 1932- J. J. DE VOY ET AL MECHANICAL SIGNAL DEVICE Filed Jan. 28, 1951 ENTOR} 4/ BY J61 gf A TTORNEYS.

25 thought or attention on the part of the driver. being included in the view.

Patented Mar. 1, 1932 'i UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE JEAiN J. DE VOY, OF COMPTCN, AND ROY V. DE VOY, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA MECHANICAL SIGNAL DEVlICE Application filed January 28, 1931. Serial No. 511,804.

This invention relates to a. mechanical sigdue to the careless observation of the signal nal device more particularly intended for use by the driver of another vehicle, the position upon self-propelled vehicles but adapted also of the signal at the time of the accident will for various other uses. afl'ord means of proof that the signal'was a An object of the invention is to provide a given in a sufficient time to render the accisignal device for use upon automobiles dent unnecessary had the signal been prop whereby a variety of signals indicative of erly heeded. i change in direction or speed of the vehicle Other objects, advantages and features of may be more efiiciently displayed. invention may hereinafter appear.

in A further object of the invention is to pro- Referring to the accompanying drawings 50 vide improved means forcombinino with th which illustrate what is at present deemed to steering wheel of self-propelled vsliicles the be a preferred embodiment of'the inven necessary operative elements for controlling Fig; 1 is a longitudinal section, with an e the signal with a minimum interference with in mediate portion brokenaway 0 Contract 7 the steeringoperation; This feature of the the g h Otthe View, Showing the signal as invention greatly lessens the hazard which and'itsoperating means within the casing has hitherto resulted from steering self-proprovided therefor. pelled vehicles with one hand at the time of Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the signal prop making a signal indicative of a-change'in the er, there being'include in the "ieW a p r i n 4 o course of the vehicle. The drivers effort to of the vehicle upon which it is mounted. In operate the signal is more quickly completed, this view the signal proper and its casing are because the signaling device, after being put sectioned on'line 22 of Fig. 1. into operation, completes the desired display- F ig. 3 is a cross-section on line 3+3 f ing of the signal without requiring 'more Figh adjaellt Portion of the Vehicle By this invention, as compared with sig- Fig. 4 is a View ofithe indicating plate ofnals now in general use, a signal is provided the signal showing also the operating handlewhich is visible at a greater distance and is nd parts Whl llCOOPQIZIUBjthGIGWlth. less apt to convey a wrong impression with Fig. 5 is a View of the signal proper showregard to the character of signal intended. ing the preferred or fl cof and mounting so ::.a ft th i l h b n iv I bad jacent portion of thevehicle is included in" s H dow again, requires steering the vehicle with els.

The signal device provided by this invenme ns therefor Y 7 tion is particularly valuable for use during Fig, 6 is a transverse section on line 66 inclement Weather, as it avoids the necessity of Fig. 5. In this view the signal proper is of lowering a window and raising the same shown in the retracted position and the adweather great care must be exercised in sigthe V v naling by the present methods,fas it is appar- Fig. 7 is a fragmental vertical section cut that the action of opening the Window, Showing the outer end portion of the track holding the arm out, and lowering the winor guide along which the signal proper trav-I r no one hand only for a considerable interval, Fig. 8 is a side-elevation of the reversing 7 thereby increasing the hazard caused by pospawl and its support. 7 I sible loss of control of the vehicle. Further- Referring in detail to the drawings, the demore in stormy weather or in very cold weathvice may be mounted upon the vehicle in any er, the driver is tempted to neglect proper suitable-manner, being shown in the drawsignaling to avoid the discomfort of exposing ings by way of example, as attached to the his person or clothing to the outside weather wall or side portion 10 of the vehicle by to the extent required to give the signalv means ofapertured lugs 11 with which the Still another object of the invention is to elongated signal casing l2'isprovided. Said provide a signal which, in case of an accident casing is shown as an elongated housing having attaching ears 11 formed on corner portions thereof and ad acent to its open, flat side, that is to say, the side thereof which ciprocates within the casing 12 being guided in its movements by an upper rail 19 and a lower rail 20. Motion is transmitted to said carriageby means of the screw shaft 21 which extends lengthwise. of and within the casing 1'2 and at. its inner end is. driven by means ofthe flexible driving shaft 22 and a reversible arrangement ofgearing presently to be described.

The gearing for rotating the screw shaft 21 is located. withina compartment. 25 which is walled off from the remainder of the casing by thepartitionplate 26, said p artition'plate 26' cooperating with. the end plate 27 of the casing. to' fornr means for rotatably supporting the counter-shaft 28 which is fixed to and forms a continuation of the flexible driving shaft 22 which is driven from the counter shaf.t.(not shown) of the transmission" gear-- ing of the vehicle. a V T-o-saidsha-ft27- is slidably-attached, as. by means. ofrtherspline or key 30,-.the large driving gear. 31 and small driving gear'32. The sliding: movements of these gears are controlled by means'of a clutch33 which is slidably mountednpon a clutch shaft 34;, said shaft 34: beingsupported by and between the plates 26 and 27. VV-hensaidclutch is in the nighthand positiomwvith reference to Fig. 1,- the small gear 32 isin mesh with an idle gear 35whichin turnmeshes with a driven gear 36 which is fiXedit'o-the screw shaft 21.

Saidv idle" gear 235} is rotatablysupported in any suitable manner as upon a pin 37 which is, mounted upon and. within a supporting sleeve or'braeke't 38: I

WVhen the gear 31- is moved by the clutch 33 tothe-left. hand position, .it meshes" with a driven gear 39 which is fixed-to the'screw shaft21. It will be seenthat byproviding the idle gear 35the screw shaft 21*is caused to'reverseits rotation when the clutch. andgears moved thereby are shifted from the lefthand to the right hand position. In Fig. 1

the clutch is shown in the neutral position wherein the gearscontrolled thereby areout of.meshrwiththeidle gear andgear 39.

To the inner endofthe-counter shaft28ris secured asmall bevel gear. which is in-mesh with-alarge bevel gear d6 which is rotatably mounted upona standard 47, said standard 47: is pivotally supported upon and between beaninglugs-tS by means of a-pin-49 Betation of the Je hind said standard 47 as viewed in Fig. 1, is located a leaf spring 50 which normally r'iaintains said standard in an upright position wherein the gear 46 is in mesh with the gear 45.

The movements of the clutch 33 are controlled both manually and automatically. The gear 46 which is mounted upon the standard i? is provided with a radially projecting cam portion 5-5 which at times engages the errsremityof an arm 56 whichcforms a part of a bell-crank, the other arm 5'? of which is in an o perativerelation to the outer side of the clutch 33. hen cam element comes into contact with said arm 56 it moves the arm 57 to the left and thereby shifts the clutch to the-neutral position shown in Fig. 1. At the juncture of arms 56 and 57, the bell crank which these arms form is pivotally supported upon the pin The reverse movement of the clutch 38 is effected by meansof a rod 60 which is fixed said clutch and which extends parallel o the clutch Near the outer end of the signal casing 12 the outer end of said rod 60is pivota connected withthc lower .end of a pendantarm 61, said arnr61. being pivotaliy supported near its upper end by a shaft 62 to which it is secured A portion 63 of the rod 61 projects above said shaft 62 and is positioned to be in the path of-a dog 6% which is pivotally mounted upon the upper portion of the carriage 1?. This part Gilis engaged by said-dog just before the sig; nal element 15 reaches the outer limit of its travel. At times it is necessaryto manually shift the clutch to the right with reference to Fig. 1. For this purpose a crank arm 65 'I an'operating handle 66.

liuleaiis are also provided to automatically move the uori ht bevel tear-1-6 laterall out of- V l h n meshwith thesmall gear 412. F or this purpose the carriage 1? is provided on its inner side with a cam extension 7Owhich,v when the carriage reaches the nner limit of its movement,.engages the upper portion; of the p1v-- otally mounted. standard t? on the side of said s =.ndard which 1 xtto the gear iii lVh-en said 163L111 the continuous ro- 1-2 are. separated g le dr ving shaft does not haveany effect upon the operation of theap paratus, When the carriage 1'7 again starts on its outward movement canrextens on 7.0 is withdrawn from. contact with the standard ,-'and the spring 50 returnssaid. standard the indicating gear 46 out of mesh with the s secured to the shaft 62 andis providedQw-it-h :Lsion 'ZO thus engages (1 the gears a6 and pinion gear 45, the weight of the'cam element 55 carried by said gear 46 causes said gear to rotate until said weighted part 55 reaches the lowest possible position, in which position the numeral will occupy the highest position wherein it will be brought opposite to the side opening. Hence at this time the gear 46 assumes its 0 position so that when the signal is started to operate by the manual means, in case an. accidentstops the vehicle at anytime after the manual means has been adjusted, the position of the gear 46, as determined by the numerals inscribed thereon, will be a means of ascertaining whether ornotthe signal was executed by the driver at the proper time. In other words,

owing to the fact that the gear 46 is in a positively driven relation to the running gear of the vehicle during the operation of the signal, the indicating numbers on the gear. 46 will tell how far the vehicle travelled from the time the signal was put into operation until the accident occurred. I

To provide for manually causing thesig nal element 1 to assume an upwardly lncllned position when it is fully ejected for the purpose of indicating a left. hand turn, a slightly slidable horizontal shaft 74: is mounted alittle below the upper side of the signal casing and is so positioned'that thesliding movements of said shaft will bring one end there of into and out of engagement with the hooked end 75 of an arm 76 which .is pivotally securedat 77 to the signal 'eleme nt .near its inner end, the outer. portion. of said arm 76 having an extension? 9 which carries a roller 79a (see Fig. 2) that travelsalong a groove 7%, thus supporting in an anti-fric.- tional manner the hooked portion of the arm 76 during the travel thereof. Returningtothe rod 'T-fit, to the outer end 'portionthereof is secured a downwardly extending arm 80 having at its lower end an outwardly directed portion 81. The inner endportion of the rod 74 is offset upwardly at 74a in order to bring the inner end of said rod into the path of the hook 75. The inner end portion as well as the outer portion of said rod is guided in its movement by the part of the vehicle wall through which it extends. A compression spring 746 coiled around said 'rod normally keeps itsinner end out of the path of the hook 75. r r p p The crank arm consists of a blade of metal which is 'sufiiciently resilient to permit the outer end thereof to be deflected slightly from the normal position, this construction makes it possible to bring the pointed pin 67 of the handle 66 into "register with theoutwardly directed portion 81 of the arm 80 and' then depress said arm 80 and thereby shift therod 74: to bring the outerend thereof into the path ofthe hook .(see Fig. 1) ,.thus to cause the signal element- 15 to swing up-.

purpose noimal positionat a given time; For this purpose said gearhas inscribed upon the face thereof nearest to the operator aseries of rotation-indicating numbers, the numbers. 0, 20, a0 and 60 being shownin Fig. l of the drawings. Through the side of the casing nearest to the operator is provided a side opening large enough to show plainly any of these numbers, said side opening being,

located in the path along which these numbers travel as the gear 46 rotates.

In order to render the signal element 15.

more clearly visible at night, the .elongated metal plate by which said signal element is formed is provided-with a series of transversely extending slits 83 which are cut somewhat on the bias, each end-of each of said slits terminating at a distance from the side' edge of the plate. The portion of the plate which intervenes between adjacent slits is tarved out of the plane of the plate thus forming a series of blades 84 as shown insection in'Fig. 6. The object of this construction is to reduce the wind pressure against the signal element whenit is in the extended position.

Near its inner end the signal plate 15 has an oval opening 85 cut therethrough at its mid-width, the long axis of said opening extending lengthwise of the plate. The right hand portion of this opening 85 as viewedin Fig. 5 is occupied by a bell-shaped reflector 86 within which is located an electric. lamp 87. This lamp is positioned to direct light across the slitted portion of the signal. Said lamp 87 is supplied with current from a properly insulated wire 88 which is provided with the requisite amount ofslack to prev-entinterference with the operation of the signal and which is conducted from the casing of the sig-' nal in any suitable manner (not shown).

'A groove 15%,p'rov1ded in the lower part ofthe casing, aids in guiding the signal blade or plate during its movementsto and from the signalling position.

Referring to certain details of construe-1 tion, the operating shafts or rods 62 and 74, as shown in F 2, are desirably extended.

through the upper portion of the window opening 90, the glass 91' being always kept at least slightlylowered in order to provide 'room thereabove for said parts 62 and 74. In Fig. 2 the vehicle is shown provided with- &

the'-usual:visor 92 benea-th whichthe device is sheltered. j i

To the-inner side of the wall portion 98 of the vehicle is attached a housing or casingelemcnt 9l' by means of apertured ears95 andi screws96: Said casingelement 94-isprovide'dlw ith the bosses, 97, 98, 99 andlOO, each of which are centrally recessed and are properly: positioned to retain the pointed stud 67 of the operating handle in whatever signaling position. it isadjusted.

The-boss -10Ois not recessed in the same way asx'theother bosses but is provided with ahole' which extends therethrough and which receives thefproj ectin g end portion 81' of the arm' 80. The bosses 99 and lO are placed closeto each other. lVhenthe handle is opposite 'to'zthezboss 99 'the clutch 33 has-been shiftedtocause the signal to be projected for: the purpose 01" indicating a left hand turn, -.but whcn the'handle is shifted a little farther and "brought intoregister with the-v boss 100, the crank arm 65', onaccount of its IeS1ll8I1Cy,'-W1ll;- when released, cause the pin (37; toidepress the projectingPart-Sl of thear'm:80 and therebywillshitt the rod 74 into the patho'f the hook 7 thus causing the signal element to be tilte'd upwardly when it iscompletely projected to indicate a right" hand turn:

The clutch is maintained iirtlie right hand position when the handle is oppositeeither the boss 99 or100 lVl1e1r-thehandle is opposite the boss 97- the clutch is in the lefthand position causing gears 31 and 39 to meshwvith each other-to retract the signal, and when the handleis opposite to boss 98 the clutch is'in the neutral position:

It will be understood that ow-ingto the rigid connection between the operating arm fi'fiiand the clutch 33,- whenever" the clutchls restored" to its neutral position by the, automatic means, said crank handle will be brought to theneutral' position as shown in 3 Fig: i 4'.

- @la imsz' .1; IIllZI vehicle signaha driving shaft operatively relatedto the propulsivepower of the vehicle to rotate continuously whilethe vehicle isit-ravelling, aicasing, a'signal element movable from-aconcealed position-.toan exposed; positionmvith: aspect to said-casingand vice versa, a screw shaft the threads of which are in:engagementuwith a" portion of said signal element, to reciprocate the latter, manuallycontro-llable means to. operatively connect and disconnect said driving shaft with: said screw shaft, and means to automatically reverse the direction of the rotation imparted to said screw shaft by said drivingshaft forthe purpose of withdrawing the signal: element after-the same has been ejectedinto view "from'said ca sing:

2, In-a vehiclesignal, a driving-shaft operat'ivelfv' related to the propulsivepowcr of the vehicle to rotatecontinuouslywhile the:

vehicle is travellin a casing, asignal-ele-- ment movable from concealed position I to an exposed posltion wlth' respect-to said cas manually operable for stationing the same in a neutral position.

In a vehicle signal, acasing, a signahele ment movably mounted within said casing to be projected therefrom into a signaling posit-ion, mechanically operative manually controllable means for ejecting saidsignal, thesignalelement proper being pivotally connected with said ejecting-means and being provided with'a hook] in spacedrelation to its pivotal mounting, and means to manually change the position of thesignal element w-henzthe same is e ected.

4: In a-vehicle signal, a casing, a signal element movably mounted withinsaid casing to,;be'projected therefrom into a signallingposition, mechanically operative manually controllable means for ejecting said signal, the signal element proper being pivotally connec-ted'with said ejecting means and beingprovided with a shoulder in spaced relation to its pivotal mounting, and'means to manu-- ally project: a'stop' into the path of said shoul-- derto change the position of the signal element when'the same is ejected 5'; In a vehicle signal, an elongated casinghaving therein an upper track and a lower track, a carriage having an upper portion operativ-ely related to said upper track and a lower portion operatively related to said lower track, an elongated'signal blade pro' jectable from one end of said casing and having-its inner end pivotally connected with said carriage, a screw shaft having; a screw threaded relation with saidcarriage, meansto rotate said shaft in one direction to move said carriagein a'direction-to project saidsignal. from said casing and'to rotate saidshaft in'the reverse direction tov retract said signal, andlmeans to control the position/of said sig-;

nal with. relation to its pivotalmounting when the same is projectedf-rom said casing into a signaling position.

6. In a vehicle signal, in combination, an elongated casing, a signal proper mounted within saidcasing and movable to and from a projected signaling position, a screw shaft operatively related to'saidsignalelement to:

project a. stop into the path of said hook'toproject and retract the same, said shaft extending longitudinally of said casing, a gear secured to said shaft, a second gear secured to said shaft, an idle gear mounted to mesh continually with said second gear, a counter shaft, a slidable gearing mounted upon said counter shaft to rotate therewith, and means to slide said slidable gearing in onedirection from a neutral position to engage said idle gear and in the opposite direction from the neutral position to engage the first mentioned of the gears which is fixed to said screw shaft.

7. In a vehicle signal, a casing, a signal element projectable therefrom into a signaling position and retractable into said casing from said signaling position, a screw shaft to operate said signallng element, gearing operatlvely related to said screw shaft, and

an indicating gear operatively related to said gearing, said indicating gear having numerals inscribed thereon to indicate the distance which the vehicle has travelled during the operation of the said signal element.

8. In a vehicle signal, a casing, a signal element projectable therefrom into a signaling position and retractable into said casing from said signaling position, a carriage to propel said signaling element, a screw shaft to operate said carriage, gearing operatively related to said screw shaft, a reversing gear, a movable standard upon which said reversing gear is mounted, said reversing gear-being normally in engagement with a portion of said gearing to be rotated thereby, acani element with which said carriage is provided to v engage and move said standard and thereby disengage said reversing gear from said gearing, a spring tending to restore said standard and reversing from gear to the normal position, a cam element carried by said reversing gear and means operated by said cam element to reverse the direction of travel to said shaft. o

In testimony whereof we hereunto afiix our signatures.

' JEAN J. DE VOY.

ROY V. DE VOY. 

